NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The numbers were good for `` Knowing . ''

In `` Knowing , '' a physics professor -LRB- Nicolas Cage -RRB- ponders patterns in a list of numbers .

The film , about a physics professor who sees clues for disastrous events in a time capsule 's list of digits , overcame some pretty long odds at the box office -- going against the Paul Rudd-Jason Segel comedy `` I Love You , Man , '' the Julia Roberts-Clive Owen romantic thriller `` Duplicity '' and some fairly scathing reviews -- to emerge as the weekend 's No. 1 film .

Though star Nicolas Cage would n't have predicted the outcome , in an interview before the film 's release , he did talk about the power of positive thinking .

`` I 'm a huge believer of the human spirit , '' he told CNN . `` I think people are amazing . I think what we have accomplished is incredible . ... If you think positive and you apply the guts and ingenuity that mankind has been doing forever , at least in our existence , I believe we get through anything . ''

Cage 's character , John Koestler , is a science professor whom Cage describes as `` someone who is reawakening to his faith . '' He begins the film believing that everything is random , but as the film continues -- and he seeks to alert the world of a coming catastrophe -- `` he believes there is cause and effect and perhaps even a divine mind , '' Cage said .

The film begins in 1959 , with students burying items in a time capsule at an elementary school . One of the children , however , creates an image of seemingly random numbers . Fifty years later , when the capsule is opened , Koestler 's son receives the page of numbers , and his father realizes that they correspond to major disasters of the past half-century .

Koestler determines that three events have yet to occur and sets out to meet the clairvoyant child 's now grown daughter . The final event threatens life on Earth itself , and the group begins a race against time , with unusual consequences .

Critics were not impressed . The film earned a 25 percent rating on the review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com , with some reviewers in full-on mockery mode . Watch Mr. Moviefone review `` Knowing '' and other films ''

`` It 's increasingly hard to believe that Cage won an Oscar in 1996 -LRB- for ` Leaving Las Vegas ' -RRB- , '' wrote USA Today 's Claudia Puig in a 1 1/2 - star review . `` In the past decade , he has made some awful choices , and his range has seemed to grow more limited . ''

`` It 's so inept that you may wish you were watching an M. Night Shyamalan version of the very same premise , '' wrote Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman , referring to the director whose last two films , `` Lady in the Water '' and `` The Happening , '' were two of the most detested films of recent years .

But the film 's apocalyptic theme obviously strikes a chord , something director Alex Proyas -LRB- `` Dark City '' -RRB- saw early on .

Proyas told CNN in a pre-release interview that `` you can read -LSB- the film -RSB- as biblical if you choose to , '' but he prefers to see it as `` spiritual . ''

`` I try to leave it very open-ended , '' he said . `` I try to think of it as more a spiritual place than a biblical one . '' Cage 's character , he said , is on a spiritual quest in the midst of what could be global destruction .

Rose Byrne , who plays the clairvoyant child 's daughter , Diana , called the film `` kind of a theological discussion . ''

`` That 's always an exciting topic , '' she said . `` It 's bridging the gap between science and spirituality . That always makes things thought-provoking , and I like that with any piece of art . ''

Byrne said that `` Knowing '' taps into some of the end-times anxiety that 's been in the air in recent years , which perhaps could help find an audience . -LRB- As she was talking before the film 's release , she did n't realize how much of an audience . -RRB-

`` I think it 's a common thing in life , '' she said of end-of-the-world fears , referencing one of the latest making the rounds -- the Mayan calendar 's Long Count end in 2012 -- in making her point .

Proyas observes that given such worries , the film can be a wake-up call for such concerns as global climate change .

`` There is a symbolic aspect to what is happening and what the story is about , and to get people to pay attention to what could happen , '' he said .

But , he adds , it 's also just a movie .

`` I believe in the entertainment value of movies -- very much so , '' he said . `` I ... want to make it good for the audience . I really want people to be there and experience something powerful and resident , both in terms of ideas and emotions ... and also with this film trying to do something different . It 's a challenging film , and it takes some unexpected turns . ''

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`` Knowing '' was weekend 's No. 1 film

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Apocalyptic thriller stars Nicolas Cage as professor who sees clues in numbers

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Film taps into themes of religion , spirituality , end-times concerns , say makers